A Fool and His Honey

An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, Book 6

By: Charlaine Harris

Narrated by: Therese Plummer

Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

Family secrets step to the forefront in this dazzling mystery from New York Times best-selling author Charlaine Harris.

Aurora's been around long enough to know that when a day starts out with your handyman going crazy in your front yard, it probably won't get any better. Sure enough, when her husband's niece shows up unexpectedly, drops off a baby, and disappears, Aurora is overwhelmed. And then the niece's husband turns up dead, having met his demise at the end of an ax blade. To find her niece, Roe and Martin retrace her steps from sunny Georgia back to snowy Ohio, where they will uncover dark family secrets - at their own peril.

Solve another mystery with Aurora Teagarden.

©1999 Charlaine Harris (P)2009 Recorded Books, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"[A] gripping tale [in which] Harris mixes elements of a cozy and her darker themes with skill and panache." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Gossipy, blithe, often funnywith a wind-up thats fierce, shocking, and poignant. A winner for Harris this time out." ( Kirkus Reviews)

If you LOVE Sookie, you'll love Aurora...

Would you consider the audio edition of A Fool and His Honey to be better than the print version?

I have never read the actual books... But I have listened to all the books in this series..

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Fool and His Honey?

I couldn't pick just one. I think the stories, in all of this series are delightful. I fell in love with Aurora and she is very reminiscent of Sookie Stackhouse. It's like reading a Sookie novel without the supernatural aspect.

What about Therese Plummer’s performance did you like?

I thought she did very well with the characters and I appreciate that Charlaine Harris knows how important it is to stick with the same narrator, if they are good. She was good. She had the characters down, and gave them the perfect southern touch they needed.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Aurora Teagarden, Unluckiest Girl EVER! OrSookie....Off Steroids... :) or Aurora Teagarden... Amateur detective, who's actually better than the real police... Or....Poor Aurora! Won't people stop dying around her? lolI don't know... But those all represent her character... :D

Any additional comments?

I know this series is over (for many years) as well as the Southern Vampire Mysteries... But I want MORE...MORE AND MORE! Charlaine Harris really could add to Aurora's life...kind of pick up where she left off in the last book. I'd love to read them. I'd love to see her brought back to life... :DCharlaine Harris has a way of writing that makes you feel good inside, like comfort food. There aren't many writers that can make me feel like that. It's like putting on a favorite pair of slippers. Her stories just make me feel comfortable, safe and warm and able to actually relax for a while. I think she writes in a way that makes people feel like they can identify with the characters. I really do love her style of writing.I DO wish she would NOT have written the Sookie Stackhouse companion. I just couldn't sit through it and actually returned it... :( maybe I would have liked it better in hardcover. And the last book I purchased was just a very short book that let's you know what happened to everyone in Sookieville...I didn't care for it. It was only about 45 minutes long and made me feel like the writer was just squeezing out every penny she could get out of the Sookie Stachouse character. I don't know, I felt like she should have just left it alone...and not published both books...it would have been nice to see them on a blog or her website, you know, a thank you for the fans type of gesture, but she didn't do that, she made more money off them and for some reason, that just didn't sit right with me. I feel crappy saying that about one of my favorite authors, but it's just how I felt when I was listening to them. Sorry... I really DO hate saying anything negative about Charlaine Harris because she is a GREAT talent. One of the best writers, ever...in my opinion.

Spoiler Alert

I've enjoyed all the books in this series so far. Unfortunately, I read "Chad's" review and one of the major plot twists is revealed. Skip that review, if having part of the ending revealed is not your cup of 'Tea' (pun intended)! Otherwise, I enjoyed this book as much as the others in the series.

I'm done reading Charlaine Harris

Somehow Ms. Harris has gone from writing funny stories with plots that twist and turn and keep you intrigued to writing frustrating and pointlessly sad stories. I wasn't the least bit surprised at the identity of the killer when revealed in this book, and instead of the story ending on a note of anticipation, or even hope for an upturn in fate for the next day, I'm depressed and irritated. The Sookie Stackhouse series has headed the same way, and even the "Grave Sight" book is unnecessarily depressing at the end. I give up. I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning of the Aurora Teagarden series, and the characters and plots are good, but I'm not reading any more books written by Charlaine Harris. I wish I had stopped at "Dead Over Heels", and suggest that everyone else do so. Read the first 5 in this series, then skip "A Fool and His Honey" and find another author.

Tear-jerker ending

I have read or listened to the Teagarden books in order and thoroughly enjoyed them all. I am a huge Therese Plummer fan, as well. Actually I enjoyed this one--quite funny in many places--until about 15 minutes before the end. Not at all what I expected. The book is very well written, as are all of Harris's books, but I'm not a fan of tear-jerker endings. So I recommend it with the provision that you are prepared for heart break at the end.

Narration Superb, story okay

This was the first of this series I didn't really enjoy 100%. I have to wonder if the writer was going some things in real life and they found their way into this book. While nothing concrete this book seemed to not have the same feel as the others. Not a matter of the author growing and the character maturing. The pacing felt off. Where as normally the transitions between scenes flowed they did not. I've started the next book already and it is back to excellent.

Ms. Plummer is FABULOUS!!! her voices are so solid. Often women narrators struggle to give us more than one male voice but she excels.

This is NOT the Hallmark movie-For Better or Worse

I am not a writer, so I have struggled to express my thoughts on this book, the series, the storytelling, and the narration, but I cannot stop thinking about it and am hoping by writing a review that I will find a bit of peace.

First off, it seems if you are fan of the TV movies, you probably will not be a fan of this book. It digs a bit deeper, looks a little more baldly into hard truths that are universal to the human experience. If you are just looking for a light-hearted, "don't have to think to hard" mystery with a little dash of romance thrown in, you aren't going to like this book, or ultimately Aurora. Charlaine Harris writes real, flawed characters. Can we, as female readers especially, accept female heroines who are flawed? Who are sometimes not charitable, or forgiving, or gracious? I wonder, sometimes. I roll my eyes at Aurora's petulance and quirks, but I can still love and admire her strength and resolve.

Reading a story written in first person can be quite disconcerting. I have seen other reviewers refer to the Aurora Teagarden series as "cozy" and I like that description, for the most part, even though it is a bit of a minimizer. You are truly drawn into her world, her thought process, the little rituals and banalities of her every day life and some will find that dull, repetitive, or uninteresting. I think that, normally, I would agree with that, but I do not feel that way with this series, and I cannot fully say why. It feels immersive, and because of the skillfulness of Ms. Harris as a writer and the impressive acting of Therese Plummer, I am thoroughly integrated. These books are relatively short, and the "down-homey-ness" of the setting and character and the description of her day to day living lull you into the sense that all of the extreme craziness of the circumstances of Roe's life (she seems to literally be surrounded by death and mystery, how much therapy I would need for this personally, there would be no telling, and how does she have friends? You would think people would be scared to hang around her? Anyway...)

I also have thoughts on reviewers who have no tolerance for Aurora having flaws, such as getting irritated with a baby crying after a couple of sleepless nights, Good Lord. I am a mother of three and I can admit to having some EXTREMELY uncharitable thoughts about my children during times like these, but heaven forbid this woman who was not prepared to care for a baby not be thrilled at every moment. Ms. Harris perfectly, subtly explains Aurora's conflicted feelings toward the baby, in a way that I found so heartbreaking and endearing but if you were a reader who was not expecting or wanting a look into the darker side of the human pysche then I can see why this would be off-putting. But in my opinion, as someone who has gone through a loss, there is a complete justification of Aurora's feelings on the subject, even if you don't agree with or like it.

And Martin, Oh. Martin. If you are reading this review, then I am expecting you have read other reviews, like I did before I read the book and you might know something heartbreaking happens at the end. If you have not and don't want to know, STOP READING NOW>>>>>>

It really, really wrenched me, mostly, because, I think, of this 1st person immersive reading experience. I KNEW Martin. I knew his flaws, his strengths, his little mannerisms, his conceits. I knew their marriage, in its flare of passion and the little mundane ordinary things. He made me angry, he made me laugh, and like Roe, he made me shiver because he was also damn sexy. Do men like that exist? Ms. Harris makes me wonder (hope?) that perhaps they do. Would I want a Martin of my own? Ms. Harris surely presents the good, the bad, the ugly in such a novel way. Rarely do you get a work like this that shows the "behind the scenes" of a romance and marriage. Usually we get the hot and yummy beginning, a wedding, maybe an epilogue and the vague dreaminess of a HEA. Again, if you are wanting an escapist novel as a beach read or something of the like then you will be sorely disappointed with this because that is not what it is.

I hope that readers who are devastated by this ending as I was will read on. She does take us down into the valley of the shadow of death, but she brings us back out, I promise, in a beautifully bittersweet and life affirming way!

You can tell that Ms. Harris wrote these novels over an extended period of time, and that she went through stuff and grew as an author as she did so. Even with its flaws, this series just has something about it that makes me so happy I invested the time and credits in listening. I hope you find something of value just as I have, and thanks for reading this long and ramb-ly review!

Terrible

Aurora was a brat and immature in this book. Her husband was an ass. Complete waste of my time.

Babiess

This book was a little more intense than the previous ones I've read in this series. It revolved around women, babies and what people will do for them. I did really like it, though I thought it was more sad than anything. There were a lot of family dynamics involved and some resolution for several relationships. I think this series is worth listening to and would recommend it.

book 6 is another good one

my only complaint is about the death of a certain character. I know it is difficult to kill a character and I wonder how this will play out in subsequent books in the series. The story came together quite nicely although at times I felt like it was a stretch for all this near death experience to happen to one person. But then that is how it goes for the main character of a series, right? C Harris does a great job of convincing me of Roe being a real person. :)

Great Story!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! Love the narrator and Aurora continues to be one of my favorite characters!

Which character – as performed by Therese Plummer – was your favorite?

Aurora

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Murders, Babies and true love!